Borderlands 2: Mechromancer DLC Review

Believe it or not, sometimes I like to talk about other things than just myself and video games is a topic I know a little thing or two about for the past 24 years...

Meet Gaige, the Mechromancer... Pandora's latest asset to find the Vault.

I was a big fan of Borderlands; I read everything about it before it came out, I bought it the day it was released and I spent several hundred hours on Xbox Live playing everything in the game and all of the extra content (downloadable content/DLC) that the game had to offer... so when Borderlands 2 was announced, I immediately knew I had to get it.

Well, I've played about 35 hours of Borderlands 2 and while the second DLC is expected to be released some time next week, I've spent a lot of time playing with the Mechromancer class that the developers at Gearbox have given us.

Gaige is a Mechromancer. Her class a little bit different than what is currently offered with Borderlands 2, but at the same time it is familiar for any fan of the series. She performs very much like the other Vault Hunters, but I noticed that she seems to better fair with Pistols and Rifles, compared to Maya's skills with SMGs or Zero's Sniper Rifles abilities. Gaige seems to maneuver better than Salvador, Maya, and Axton and I'd say only Zero could outrun and out-dodge attacks from Psychos better than she. In the original Borderlands, the character of Mordecai's skill tree primarily involved his companion Bloodwing which could use to seek and attack your opponents... well Gaige's Deathtrap is a very much the same, but with a little twist.

The mechanical companion, Deathtrap, can be summoned at will... depending the cool down timer has reset itself.

Deathtrap is very large, much larger than Axton's Turret gun. The beauty about Deathtrap is that during 60 seconds (that is, 60 seconds with leveling up the skill tree to grant a longer deployment timer), this chrome-plated companion has several attacks and support skills at your disposal, depending on what type of approach you take with your character. Do you want a your Deathtrap to be stronger and dish out more damage or do you want it to last longer but be able to help heal you and your teammates? Sure, Borderlands 2 still hasn't perfected the Skill Tree, but there are several combinations of skills you can level up throughout your (for now) 50 LVL cap...

I've chosen the aggressive path. While I've barely unlocked much throughout the chain, there is nothing better than watching my Deathtrap shoot lasers at long range targets and slicing up close range targets like Marvel's Wolverine. My Siren build, however, is less aggressive.

If you pre-ordered Borderlands 2 you're definitely getting more bang for your buck since the Mechromancer is included with your price, but you didn't you'll have to shell out for this character and I can most certainly say that I'd be more than happy to pay upwards of $20 for this character just based on her abilities and her personality alone; I'd peg her personality as a slightly more mature version of Tiny Tina (and that's a good thing!)

Should you buy it? If you're a hardcore fan of Borderlands 2, definitely. If you're a newcomer in this series, I promise you won't be disappointed if you buy her separately. 

Julie Schippnick